Age: High School
Time period: 1950s New Orleans

Very character driven, I loved how Sepetys used an intriguing mystery to hook readers into the story while focusing most of her attention on her characters. I would have given the book 5 stars had the ending not been so abrupt and slightly confusing. I also was guessing at an ending that was far from the real ending.

Spoiler

I thought that Patrick had something to do with the death of Hearne, and he was drugging his father because his father saw him do something. Also, Willie's death seemed unnecessary. Can someone explain to me why she needed to die?

All in all, a well written book that kept me interested until the very end. In her review, a friend of mine appreciated that the book "isn't too much about a mysterious death, it isn't too much about young love, and it isn't too much about a girl trying to shed her mother's legacy; it is a little bit of everything mixed together in a perfect way." Agreed!

P.S. I loved the part where Josie receives the letter from Smith College and Sepetys separated the sentences onto three separate pages. Sepetys must be like me and skips "padding" sentences and paragraphs in books in order to find the answer.